The LA Dodgers arrived in Taiwan last night geared up for a game against a Taiwan All-Star team today in Taipei.
Dodgers Manager Joe Torre confirmed yesterday the starter for today’s game at the Tianmu Baseball Stadium would be Eric Stults. The starter for tomorrow’s game will be Josh Towers and Taiwanese pitcher Kuo Hong-chih (郭泓志) will start Sunday’s game.
For Taiwan, left-hander Lin Ying-chieh (林英傑) of the Sinon Bulls will start today’s game. Lin’s teammate, right-hander Yang Chieh-fu (陽建福), will be the starting pitcher tomorrow.
About 3,000 tickets for today’s game are still available and will be on sale at the turnstiles.
The organizer hosted a press conference last night to welcome the Dodgers which was attended by Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡), Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) and other dignitaries.
Paul Archey, vice president of the international division of Major League Baseball (MLB), said Taiwan has a long tradition of relations with the “Big League.”
The Dodgers first visited Taiwan in 1993 and lost two out of their three games to the local team.
“We will not let that happen again. That’s a guarantee,” Archey said.
The same promise was made by Gene Orza, chief operating officer of the MLB’s Baseball Players Association. He also promised baseball fans are going to see the “the highest level of talent.”
“I am sure the players are in for a fight in the next three days,” Orza said.
Lu Wen-sheng (呂文生), manager of Taiwan’s All-Star Team, said he was so excited about playing against a Major League team that he probably wouldn’t get any sleep last night. When asked about the chances of his team beating their illustrious opponents, Lu was rather modest and said all the players were sure to do their best and try not to lose by too great a margin.
Torre said he first encountered Taiwanese baseball when a Taiwanese team won the Little League World Series. As former coach of the New York Yankees he also coached Taiwanese pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民), who helped the team secure 19 wins two seasons in a row, in 2006 and 2007.
Aside from Kuo, the Dodgers’ Taiwanese infielder Hu Chin-lung (胡金龍) will also play in the games.
“The fact that we have two Taiwanese players plays a big part,” Torre said, when asked about the decision to play in Taiwan, adding that he was curious to see how popular Wang and Kuo actually are here. Torre said he was impressed by the way Taiwanese players competed and how determined they were.
Meanwhile, Hau welcomed the Dodgers and said the Taipei City Government would offer an NT$20,000 bonus to any local player who hits a home run during the tour.
The Dodgers will play two games against a local professional All-Star team today and tomorrow in Taipei.
“We are giving out monetary rewards to encourage our players to perform well in the two games,” Hau said yesterday at Taipei City Hall.
The city government has devoted a lot of effort and resources into getting the Dodgers to visit Taipei in a bid to boost the city’s image, he said. It has spent more than NT$3 million (US$94,400) to improve the facilities at the stadium and will provide 30 free shuttle buses to transport fans to the two games.
Hau will open one of the games and join a group of elementary school students in singing the national anthem at the opening ceremony today.
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